David,

You are one of the more knowledgeable folks who is still here after several years. If you really want to discuss what helps the VFP community, I really think we need to discuss helping VFP developers to learn other tools.

There are a group of developers who develop apps for small shops or develop off the shelf apps for verticle markets. Developers who fall into these groups can select whatever development tool they desire. They are free to find another client if that client has stated that they will not consider software written with a tool such as VFP.

However there are many of us whose career depends on filling specific needs as corporate type developers. 6 or 7 years ago I could depend on being able to easily leave one VFP gig for another. This is no longer the case. There are some who seem to want to deny that the use of VFP has dramatically declined over the last several years.

I appreciate the fact that others who have felt the need to use other tools want to share their experiences. Unfortunately, others want to keep the UT pure of discussions of alternatives to VFP. Whenever the subject is brought up that you can accomplish you goal with another tool, they are shot down. Especially when the recommendation is to design your app in a way other then "THE VFP" way.

I agree with John B. that the level of technical discourse on this forum has decreased substantially in the last several years. Unfortunately, I don't see anything causing a change in the horizon.

PF



>John,
>
>>There was a serious question about VFP and word 2003 interop here last week. What was the help? Squat, zippo, nada. That's what I'm talking about. I have talked at length with the poster off of this forum and the only help he got was "its a compile tim problem, don't worry about it". I have great respect for the person that posted that answer, but it was so far off the mark, it wasn't helpful.
>
>The UT community would have been much better served had the discussion been carried out in the thread where the question started. No one is 100% correct with every one of their answers, and now the person that posted incorrect information lost the opportunity to learn.
>
>>BTW, post 4 or 5 of your helpful answers to some tough problems.
>
>Sorry, but your signal to noise ratio isn't exactly a lot to crow about, so please don't go calling Hugo on the carpet WRT actually answering questions here.